Vice President Vance visits Israeli Embassy following killing of staffers
Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter shared pictures of the vice president signing a condolence book at the embassy
Israel's Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter/X
Vice President JD Vance signs a condolence book at the Israeli Embassy in Washington in memory of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim on May 27, 2025.
Vice President JD Vance visited the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Tuesday to pay his respects following last Wednesday’s killing of two staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in the nation’s capital.
Vance was seen in photos posted on X by Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter signing a condolence book at the embassy honoring the memories of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, the two staffers killed in the May 21 attack following a museum event for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.
“Thank you @VP Vance for coming to the Embassy to honor our dear colleagues and friends, Sarah and Yaron. The care and compassion you and the Trump administration have shown in the wake of this murderous attack are testaments to the enduring friendship between our two countries and peoples, and our mutual battle against terrorism,” Leiter wrote on the social media platform.
Leiter said at a press conference immediately following the shooting that Lischinsky and Milgrim met while working at the embassy and that Lischinsky planned to propose on an upcoming trip to Jerusalem.
The alleged shooter, Elias Rodriguez, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, the murder of foreign officials, causing death with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a violent crime. The interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said last week that the 31-year-old Chicago native, who was seen on video shouting “free Palestine” and “I did it for Gaza” after the attack, is eligible for the death penalty.
A Vance spokesperson did not respond to Jewish Insider’s request for comment on the visit, though the vice president wrote on X the morning after the shooting that, “My heart breaks for Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were murdered last night at the Capital Jewish Museum.”
“Antisemitic violence has no place in the United States. We’re praying for their families and all of our friends at the Israeli Embassy, where the two victims worked,” Vance said at the time.